The city of Peculiar and MoDOT will build a new interchange on I-49 at 211th Street that will add a second major highway access for the city and provide a direct route to the Raymore-Peculiar Schools campus.

The approximately $12 million construction project, scheduled to start in spring 2015, will construct a diverging diamond interchange and improve 211th Street from Peculiar Drive on the west to School Road on the east. The 211th Street interchange is necessary to provide alternate access, relieve heavy peak-period congestion at the Routes C and J interchange, provide residents with another connection between the east and west halves of the community and support the anticipated economic development within the northern portions of the City.

Who Will It Serve?

The 211th interchange and improvements will provide a direct route between the high school, future commercial development and residential neighborhoods.

Peculiar city officials are looking beyond immediate needs to ensure that, over the long term, 211th Street can be extended and included as part of any possible outer-ring highway system connecting I-70 near Blue Springs on the east with the Gardner, Ks. multi-modal facility to the west. Doing so provides benefits region-wide, and facilitates the development of the Kansas City area as a premier transportation hub for the entire country.

A key component for the city’s anticipated growth and economic development will be a regional industrial center that is planned for the northwest quadrant of the proposed interchange, where a significant amount of electrical power is already available to support large-scale industrial users.

What About Pedestrians and Bicycles?

The new interchange and 211th corridor also will accommodate bicycle and pedestrian traffic, solving the barrier created by the I-49 corridor.

Who's Paying for It?

MoDOT and Peculiar will fund the 211th Street interchange project through a cooperative agreement. Peculiar’s funding will come from general obligation bonds approved by the city’s voters in April 2009. MoDOT will provide about half of the project funding through its Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan, a rolling five-year commitment that lays out how state tax funds are budgeted for highway improvements.

Is This Part of a Bigger Plan?

The 211th Street interchange is the latest of several cooperative interchange projects in Cass County where local communities have provided funds to accelerate needed improvements. Among those projects: 163rd Street interchange in Belton; North Cass Parkway (Belton and Raymore, with Cass County); Route 291 in Harrisonville (Transportation Development District). In the past five years, improvements along I-49 from just north of Cass County to the Bates County line also include: Route 150 single-point interchange; the 283rd and 327th Street overpasses; and the 307th Street interchange. The last three, completed last year, allowed MoDOT to upgrade Route 71 to interstate status (I-49) in December, eliminating more than 20 at-grade intersections between Harrisonville and Carthage.